


Second Chances

by redeem147



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Alternate Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-15
Updated: 2011-08-15
Packaged: 2017-10-22 15:30:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/239550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redeem147/pseuds/redeem147
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose is trapped on Pete's World where she sees a familiar blue box.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Second Chances

She’d offered to nip over to the corner store. Of course, the corner was a lot farther away than it used to be, and Jackie could have sent out for delivery, or sent one of the staff. But it was a beautiful morning, and Rose figured the walk would do her good.

Besides, everywhere she went she felt a third wheel. Jackie and Pete were busy with the baby. The house may be big, but the sound of screaming little brother carried down the halls. She didn’t go over to Mickey’s much cause when she did, he was more often than not with Jake. Maybe Mickey couldn’t see what was going on there, but she could. Just as well she hadn’t ended up with him, then.

She’d go in to Torchwood in the afternoon. Even there, though she had a purpose, half the time she felt over her head. Maybe she’d seen an alien or three, and even saved the world, but the place was full of scientists. Whatever language they spoke, it didn’t seem like English. Pete kept telling her she’d find her place there, and probably she would, but not today, and not tomorrow. Maybe she should go back to school; learn some of the science for herself.

She was so pre-occupied with her life that she didn’t hear it at first. That sound. That mechanical, asthmatic, unique in the universe sound. As it grew louder, as the familiar blue shape appeared on the edge of the road, she dropped her package on the sidewalk. The bag split, and two dozen white rectangles spilt on the ground.

She didn’t notice that. Her heart was too busy stopping.

The door opened, and she stopped breathing too.

The man who came through the door was a stranger. He wasn’t tall. His long brown hair curled over his head in a wanton way. He wore a brown velvet jacket. But there was something about his eyes. “Doctor?”

“Hello,” he asked. “Do I know you?” He stepped closer and smiled. “You seem to have me at a disadvantage, Miss...”

“Tyler,” she choked out. “Rose Tyler. You don’t know me, then?”

“I really don’t think I’ve had the pleasure. And while my memory has played silly buggers with me in the past, lately all is crystal clear. I’m the Doctor,” he held out his hand, “though somehow you seem to know that already.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I know you.” His handshake was gentle, though she sensed there could be iron in it if need be. His eyes were blue, not brown, but he was in there. She didn’t doubt it for a minute. “Or, I have known you. You didn’t look like that. Either of you.”

“Another regeneration then. Which you seem to know about too.”

She realized she hadn’t let go of his hand. He seemed quite content to leave hers where it was, though whether it was because she enjoyed its presence, or whether he hadn’t noticed it, she couldn’t tell. So she pulled it away. His expression didn’t change. He was still smiling. “I used to travel with you. How can you not remember that?”

“Perhaps it hasn’t happened yet.”

“Oh.” This was a Doctor from a previous life. Must be. Then why didn’t her Doctor remember her? Maybe it didn’t work like that.

But shouldn’t it? For a time traveller, shouldn’t it? Should she be careful what she asked? What if she changed things. What if she said something that changed everything, and she never met him when the Autons attacked? What if she’d never loved him?

But she had to know.

“Do you know about the Time War?” she asked. That should place him before or after her Doctor for sure.

“I certainly do, but I’m surprised that you do.” He gestured towards the Tardis. “Would you like to come in for a cup of tea? I’d love to talk about this.” He reached out to take her hand, when he noticed she’d had a bit of an accident. “You’ve spilled your nappies. Here, I’ll give you a hand.” He crouched down and started picking them up from the sidewalk, so she joined in.

“You don’t really have to do this.”

“No problem at all. So, you have a baby at home?”

“Yeah.” She realized he might get the wrong impression. “Not mine. My little brother. He’s three months old.”

“You don’t have to rush, then.”

“No.” She tossed the diapers in a garbage can. “No hurry.”

****

It wasn’t her console room. It was huge and gothic and beautiful, with a ceiling of stars. But it didn’t feel like home.

“So, what do you know about the Time Wars?” he asked, handing her a Wedgewood cup.

“Ta.” She took a sip. “I know there was a great battle with the Time Lords and the Daleks, and your home world was destroyed. And the Daleks. You were left all alone. I think it had just happened when I met you. You’d just regenerated.”

“That’s not possible.” He sat down his teacup. “There was a great battle, yes. And the Daleks were destroyed. But Gallifrey is fine. We won.”

“No.” She said it, but not emphatically. Here was the Doctor, right in front of her. Surely he’d know. “Maybe it’s another Time War. Maybe it happens later.”

“With more Daleks that don’t exist anymore in space and time?”

“You’d be surprised,” she muttered. Maybe she was saying too much.

“When did I meet you?” he asked. “What year?”

“It was 2005,” she answered.

“That would be right after the Time War, by Earth time, but I assure you, we won. I’m not alone. Well, I’m travelling alone at the moment, but that’s not what you mean, is it?”

“That’s not what I mean.” Something was niggling in the back of her brain. Something obvious, she thought, but it just wouldn’t gel.

“If I’m going to land on Earth in 2005, which is entirely possible, and meet you, which is also possible, it won’t change the fact that Gallifrey is still up there in all its pompous glory.”

“Land on Earth, yeah.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m an idiot. You landed on Earth, but not this Earth. Not this dimension. My Doctor told me that everything we do has the potential to split off into another dimension. I should tell you, I’m not from around here.”

His face broke into a wide grin. “Oh, this is brilliant. Wonderful. You’re from another dimension. That’s fantastic.”

“Say that again.”

“What? Dimension?”

“No.” It wasn’t the same. “Never mind.”

“So, Rose Tyler, tell me how a girl from one world came to another. I assume the Tardis had something to do with it?”

“No, not the Tardis. There was a rift between the worlds. The Doctor and I, we fixed it, but I got trapped here. He got trapped there.”

“Rose.” He lifted her chin with his forefinger. “Are you crying?”

She threw her arms around him and sobbed onto his shoulder.

“Rose. What’s wrong?”

“I thought I’d never see you again.”

“There, there, Rose.” He rubbed her back gently. “It’s alright. I’m here.”

“Not my Doctor.”

“No, maybe not. But I am the Doctor. Must count for something.”

She straightened up and sniffed back the tears. “Yeah. You’re being very kind. Thanks.”

He squeezed her hand. “Not at all. You should be getting home. I suspect your little brother will be needing more nappies.”

“Right.” She headed towards the door. “Good meeting you, Doctor.”

“Rose?”

“Yeah?”

“You wouldn’t want to get those nappies later, would you? I seem to be without a travelling companion at the moment, and I have a feeling that I’d like to get to know you better.”

“I couldn’t do that to mom.”

“I suppose not.”

“I have work commitments.”

“Of course.”

“Oh, what the hell.” She ran back to the Doctor and surprised him with a hug and a quick kiss. “Always wanted to go to Barcelona.”

He really did have a lovely smile.


End file.
